Gwendolyn Brooks was a poet and author from Topeka, Kansas. Brooks was the author of over twenty books of poetry; her chapbook Annie Allen (1949) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She also wrote many other books, including the novel Maud Martha (1953) and Report from Part One: An Autobiography (1972). In 1968, Brooks was designated poet laureate for Illinois; in 1985, she was appointed consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress (renamed later to the U.S. Poet Laureate). She was the first black woman to hold that position.
Information from Poets.org.